Slaying Suspect's Web Manifesto

Jim Herron Zamora, Erin Hallissy, The San Francisco Chronicle

The ex-soldier turned drifter who was arrested last week in a New Hampshire hotel for killing a California police officer bragged on the Internet that he was protesting "police-state tactics," authorities said.

Andrew Hampton McCrae, 23, who spent three years in the Army,
surrendered peacefully at a Holiday Inn in Concord, N.H., after the
FBI tracked him down from a confession posted in his name last Monday
evening on an alternative news media Web site in San Francisco.

"Hello everyone, my name's Andy. I killed a police officer in Red
Bluff, California in a motion to bring attention to, and halt, the
police-state tactics that have come to be used throughout the
country," said the online posting at sf.indymedia.org.

McCrae, who also goes by the name Andrew Hampton Mickel, was
arraigned on charges of felony flight from prosecution for the Nov.
19 slaying of Red Bluff Police Officer David Mobilio.

"From what I understand, this killing was a planned ambush -- an
execution of a police officer to effectuate his political agenda,"
said Concord City Prosecutor Scott Murray.

New Hampshire authorities are holding McCrae without bail pending his
extradition to California.

Authorities in California and New Hampshire believe that McCrae
posted the rambling statements against law enforcement and fired the
gun that killed Mobilio, the first officer ever to die in the line of
duty in Red Bluff. About 5,000 people attended Mobilio's funeral
Tuesday.

FBI agents in California and New England would not say exactly how
they tracked down McCrae after seeing the postings in his name.

In the posting, McCrae blamed all the major problems in America and
the world on corporate irresponsibility and said he had set up his
own corporation under the name "Proud and Insolent Youth
Incorporated" so that he could "use the destructive immunity of
corporations and turn it on something that actually should be
destroyed."

McCrae's incorporation papers, filed in Concord on Nov. 7, list
addresses in Loudon, N.H., and Olympia, Wash. The Loudon address was
for the local agent of a company that filed the papers.

McCrae said the name of his corporation is a reference to Capt. Hook
calling Peter Pan "proud and insolent youth" just before their final
duel.

"Now Peter Pan hates pirates, and I hate pirates, and corporations
are nothing but a bunch of pirates," McCrae wrote. "It's time to send
them to a watery grave, and rip them completely out of our lives."

McCrae's posting drew sharp criticism but some support in comments
posted on the site, which includes a section on police brutality. The
site has featured stories on a successful federal lawsuit by two
Earth First activists against Oakland police and FBI agents and
stories about the corruption trial of Oakland officers known as "the
Riders."

Little is known about McCrae's background. He lived in Ohio as a
teenager and spent three years in the Army, mostly stationed at Fort
Campbell, Ky., until he was discharged Aug. 11, 2001, his family
said. The Army declined to comment on his service.

"We love our son but absolutely denounce his recent actions," said
his father, Stan Mickel, from his home in Ohio. "Our hearts are
breaking for the family and friends of Officer Mobilio. This is very
hard for us, and we don't feel we can say anything else right now.
It's terrible."

McCrae, who identifies himself in the posting as an Army veteran and
graduate of the U.S. Army Ranger School, Airborne School and Jungle
Operations Training School, also complains heartily about the
military.

"The American government is violent all over the world to protect its
ill-gotten money and goods," he wrote. "But the American People don't
have the right to profit off foreign deaths and silently enjoy our
position, then scream bloody murder when those foreigners react to
our violence with violence."

Since his discharge, McCrae has spent time in Olympia, Wash., and in
New Hampshire, according to authorities. His father did not know of
any connection McCrae had to Red Bluff or Northern California.

Police are trying to locate a maroon 1992 Ford Mustang hatchback,
registered to McCrae, with Washington license plate 595 NAB. Police
believe he may have used it as a getaway car and driven to New
Hampshire.

Authorities, who had been negotiating with McCrae for three hours,
lured him from his hotel room about 10 a.m. Tuesday after allowing
him to speak by telephone with a reporter for the Concord Monitor,
who was standing nearby with police negotiators.

McCrae immediately told reporter Sarah Vos that he killed Mobilio to
draw attention to "police brutality," Vos said. On the advice of FBI
and police, she drew him out by encouraging him to give her a copy of
his manifesto, "Declaration of Renewed Independence."

"He asks, 'How do I give it to you?' I say, 'You have to come out,' "
Vos recounted.

Mobilio, 31, was shot once in the head between 1:30 and 2 a.m. Nov.
19 as he stopped for gas at an unstaffed filling station on North
Main Street used by Red Bluff police and Tehama County sheriff's
deputies.

The killing stunned the 23-member police force in the city of 13,500
about 185 miles northeast of San Francisco. A native of Saratoga,
Mobilio leaves behind his wife of six years, Linda, an elementary
school teacher, and their 19-month-old son, Lucas.

Among the approximately 5,000 people who attended a three-hour
memorial service at the Tehama County fairgrounds were Gov. Gray
Davis and about 2,500 uniformed law enforcement officers from more
than 100 agencies ranging from San Diego to Oregon and Nevada.

During the emotional service, Mobilio's father, Richard, drew a
standing ovation after recalling his son's journey from learning
disabilities that made school difficult to finding his mission in
police work.

"This town really turned out for a fallen hero," said Officer Todd
Lopez of Chico. "For those of us in law enforcement, he's our
brother."